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Ex-Hussein deputy apparently slams Iraqi government [video]

April 9, 2012 | 4:55
pm

An online video appears to show one of the top deputies from the toppled government of Saddam Hussein slamming the new Iraqi government and accusing Iran of trying to take over.

Izzat Ibrahim Douri is the highest-ranking member of the Hussein regime still at large, according to the Associated Press. When the United States handed out "playing cards" to help troops identify who was wanted in Iraq, Douri was the king of clubs.

In an hourlong address on a website linked to the Baath Party, posted Saturday, a man who appears to be Douri says Iran is trying to destroy Iraq and calls on "progressive resistance forces and all the national Islamic forces" to liberate the country, Agence France-Presse reported.

The man reportedly went on to accuse the Iraqi government and the Arab governments that back it of treason and conspiracy against Iraqi insurgents who fought the U.S. military.

The video was posted on the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Baath Party, which is now outlawed in Iraq. Douri became secretary-general of the party after Hussein was executed, Al Jazeera reported.

Douri is one of seven officials linked to the Hussein regime now wanted by the U.S., according to Washington's Rewards for Justice website, which is offering up to $1 million for information leading to his capture.

His "support for the insurgency has undermined efforts to unify the country, and he is wanted in connection with numerous acts of violence directed against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq," the website says. It also blames Douri for the chemical shelling of Kurdish villages during the Hussein regime.